With primary and secondary schools closed for the duration of England's third lockdown, working parents up and down the country are searching frantically for the best way to educate their children at home while juggling life's demands.
One advantage compared to the first lockdown is that schools have had the benefit of time to evolve and many now use solutions such as Google Classrooms, Microsoft Teams and, of course, the ubiquitous Zoom to bring classroom learning to the living room.
The emergence of these platforms will ease pressure on parents this time round – but they aren't silver bullets. Pupils and students will still require engagement beyond the remit of the school or college curriculum.
BBC expands educational offering
The UK's national broadcaster has reacted "swiftly" to the shutdown and starting on Monday will "deliver the biggest education offer in its history", according to its press release.
CBBC will devote a three-hour programme each morning to a range of Live Lessons and Bitesize Daily. Programmes will include titles such as Our School, Celebrity Supply Teacher, Horrible Histories, Art Ninja and Operation Ouch.
BBC Two will cater for older pupils and telecast programmes to support the GCSE curriculum.
Bitesize programmes will also be available on the red button and online but one of the boons of the BBC’s comprehensive schedule is its availability on television.
UK Education Minister Gavin Williamson has drawn criticism for failing to provide laptops to disadvantaged children in the months between the lockdowns, effectively excluding many from online learning.
“Ensuring children across the UK have the opportunity to continue to follow the appropriate core parts of their nation’s school curriculum has been a key priority for the BBC throughout this past year,” said BBC Director General Tim Davie.
“Education is absolutely vital. The BBC is here to play its part and I’m delighted that we have been able to bring this to audiences so swiftly.”
The inexorable rise of e-learning
E-learning, although not a new phenomenon, has accelerated since the coronavirus outbreak, with several companies looking to tap into the online learning gold rush.
The National compiled a guide to 10 providers for adults and children at the beginning of the first wave in March.
The Invicta National Academy was established in response to the spring lockdown by Conservative party candidates Stephen James and Anna Firth with the “promise to help children of the United Kingdom catch up on missed learning”.
Unlike several of its competitors, Invicta offers live lessons as opposed to pre-recorded content and claims to have delivered more than “2 million minutes of learning” already.
Sponsors of the start-up include the education minister and a range of Conservative MPs including head of the Education Select Committee Robert Halfon.
At the beginning of January it tweeted an offer of two free weeks of live online lessons, urging parents to book now to avoid disappointment.
Responses ranged from the overwhelmingly positive:
…to those raising questions over the founders' primary motives and the probity of profiteering from the pandemic:
For parents of primary school children (Key Stage One), Plan Bee promises “thousands of easy-to-use and completely ready-to-teach lesson plans”. It has been around since 2009 so can’t be accused of jumping on the e-learning bandwagon.
According to the company, “its lesson plan packs are designed, from the ground up, to ensure excellent coverage of National Curriculum objectives, and to fit into a bigger Curriculum Pack with comprehensive planning for the whole school”.
Another long-standing provider is Teach Active, which has been supplying free maths and English classes throughout the period of lockdown for all subscribing schools.
For children who learn best through play, games-based app Kahoot offers an interactive experience that complements more traditional activities.
Its learning games offer user-generated, multiple-choice quizzes that can be used to review knowledge, both formally and informally.
The company has also launched a Kahoots Drops app designed to augment language learning – so all monolingual parents can breathe a sigh of relief.
Other apps designed to bring the fun factor into home-schooling include Quizlet, Maths Factor and Fun Brain.
The return of PE with Joe Wicks
Schools don’t just cater for academic development, of course, with physical education integral to both health and wellbeing.
During the first lockdown last year, curly-haired YouTube fitness guru Joe Wicks lunged and 'burpeed' himself into the nation's homes with his daily PE with Joe fitness sessions.
Here’s his inaugural workout from March.
The living room star-jump maestro announced on his Instagram account on Monday that he would be reviving the classes over the coming weeks.
“I've got some great news, I've decided I need to come back and be there for children during this time, through this lockdown when schools are closed to keep their exercise up, to keep their activities there, their energy, their mood, their mental health.”
If Mr Wicks proves a little ebullient for your children’s tastes, then yoga might provide a more soothing experience. Cosmic Kids offers traditional yogic moves combined with fun narratives such as this superhero one, engaging the holy trinity of mind, body and soul in a most heroic fashion.
YouTube shouldn’t be used solely as a site for physical inspiration; it also provides a rich seam of educational content across the board. Crucially, like the BBC, its extensive portfolio is completely free.
Accentuating the positives of homeschooling
It would be wrong to underplay the arduous challenges faced by parents educating children at home. Yet, according to Oxford Home Schooling, positives can be derived.
These include learning at the correct pace, a flexible curriculum, control over educational philosophies and improved family ties and social life.
For teachers, a silver lining may exist too: parents dismissive of teaching as a profession will begin to realise what a highly skilled and demanding role it is.
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
RACE SCHEDULE
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday, September 29
First practice: 7am - 8.30am
Second practice: 11am - 12.30pm
Saturday, September 30
Qualifying: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday, October 1
Race: 11am - 1pm
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Norway v Spain, Saturday, 10.45pm, UAE
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Schedule:
Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
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The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
MWTC
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
if you go
The flights Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, and Royal Jordanian all offer direct, three-and-a-half-hour flights from the UAE to the Jordanian capital Amman. Alternatively, from June Fly Dubai will offer a new direct service from Dubai to Aqaba in the south of the country. See the airlines’ respective sites for varying prices or search on reliable price-comparison site Skyscanner.
The trip
Jamie Lafferty was a guest of the Jordan Tourist Board. For more information on adventure tourism in Jordan see Visit Jordan. A number of new and established tour companies offer the chance to go caving, rock-climbing, canyoning, and mountaineering in Jordan. Prices vary depending on how many activities you want to do and how many days you plan to stay in the country. Among the leaders are Terhaal, who offer a two-day canyoning trip from Dh845 per person. If you really want to push your limits, contact the Stronger Team. For a more trek-focused trip, KE Adventure offers an eight-day trip from Dh5,300 per person.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
